Touchscreen laptops' prices drop by 50 percent since 2013

Touchscreen laptops' prices have decreased between 50 to 62 percent since last year. Is now the right time to buy a touchscreen laptop?

Danny Johnston/AP/File

Amanda Griffin, left, shops for school supplies with her daughter Haven, 11, at a Little Rock, Ark., Wal-Mart store in 2009. Back-to-school sales are already starting, which can be an opportunity to save money on touchscreen laptops.

In addition to easier navigation of Windows 8, a laptop with a touchscreen display can also make your computing experience snappier by replacing some cumbersome keyboard and mouse gestures.

However, these days there's another advantage: touchscreen laptops are a lot cheaper. In fact, they're now some of the cheapest of any kind of laptop we've ever seen, making them the new go-to budget laptops.

Touch laptops are 50 percent to 62 percent cheaper than they were in 2013

In the past year, deals on 15" touchscreen laptops have seen prices drop by an astonishing 50 percent. Deals on their smaller 12" counterparts boast equally impressive numbers with prices that are up to 62 percent cheaper than they were in 2013.

Touchscreens are now a standard feature in laptop deals across the board

While it's natural for devices to decrease in price, the volume of deals we've seen on touchscreen laptops indicates this is no ordinary depreciation. The number of deals have increased steadily each month, with May boasting a 34 percent increase in 15" touchscreen laptop deals over January. For 12" systems, May's numbers were even more impressive, with 76 percent more 12" touchscreen laptop deals than January. And the number is expected to grow higher when back-to-school sales commence.

But perhaps the biggest indicator of this new trend came in May when we listed a 12" touchscreen system for just $199. In addition to being the cheapest touchscreen laptop we'd ever seen, that $199 machine was the second-cheapest laptop we'd ever posted on DealNews. With prices this low, today's touchscreen notebooks — many of which pack Intel processors — have even managed to undercut laptops with AMD CPUs, the latter of which were traditionally our go-to machines for budget shoppers.

But before you purchase that new computer, there are a few things you should know.

Back-to-school sales are just getting started

Black Friday and back-to-school season are generally the best times of the year to make laptop purchases. While the former is still too far to consider, back-to-school season is just starting, which means today's great deal can be easily trumped by next week's sales. To avoid making any unnecessary returns, we recommend browsing through a few back-to-school sales before making any final purchasing decision.

In terms of pricing, 15" touchscreen notebooks have averaged $328 so far this year. The best deal we've listed for this category has been $300 with the most aggressive sales coming from the likes ofNewegg, Best Buy, and eBay. So look for deals in the $300 to $328 range to maximize your savings.

If you prefer the portability of a 12" machine, these systems have averaged $275 this year and prices have bottomed out at $199. In terms of retailers, the Microsoft Store and Best Buy have offered the best bargains on 12" systems. Shoppers should look for deals in the $199 to $275 range.

Although they appeared gimmicky at first, touchscreen laptops are here to stay. And while these machines may not suit the needs of gamers or video editors, a 12" or 15" touchscreen laptop can fit the needs of most casual users, and save you a significant amount of money in the process.